"
"Harkee, old trapper," cried the bee-hunter, striking his own hand
into the open palm which the other had extended, with a report but
little below the crack of a rifle, "I have just two things to say--
Firstly, that the Captain has told you my meaning better than I can
myself; and, secondly, if you want a skin, either for your private use
or to send abroad, I have it at your service, and that is the skin of
one Paul Hover."
The old man returned the grasp he received, and opened his mouth to
the utmost, in his extraordinary, silent, laugh.
"You couldn't have given such a squeeze, boy, when the Teton squaws
were about you with their knives! Ah! you are in your prime, and in
your vigour and happiness, if honesty lies in your path." Then the
expression of his rugged features suddenly changed to a look of
seriousness and thought. "Come hither, lad," he said, leading the bee-
hunter by a button to the land, and speaking apart in a tone of
admonition and confidence; "much has passed atween us on the pleasures
and respectableness of a life in the woods, or on the borders.
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